Nathu La

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT NATHU LA - PAGE 5

Crossing the Pass The economic rationale for the reopening of the Nathu La Pass has, perhaps understandably, receded well into the background. Reopening a border pass that was closed for 44 years was always bound to bring with it a heavy dose of nostalgia, particularly when the pass was so central to the Old Silk Route. The more hard-nosed too would prefer to focus on what this does for the rebuilding of political relations between India and China. Yet it is important not to miss the fact that the reopening of the pass is not about India and China alone.

BEIJING: Describing as "uninspiring" the much-hyped reopening of Sino-India border trade via the strategic Nathu La pass during the past one year, the official Chinese media today said India should lift "unilateral restrictions" to facilitate enhanced business links. The border trade through the Himalayan Nathu La Pass between China and India has been "uninspiring" since the historic trade route re-opened just a year ago after 44 years of closure due to border conflict, the state media commented.

NATHU LA: Trade between India and China through this high mountain pass on the Silk Road, which opened after 44 years, closed over the weekend after registering business worth Rs 10.2 crore ($26,100) since July. "Trade between the two countries have closed for this year and would resume from June 1 until September 30 next year," Sikkim's director of industry and commerce Saman Prasad Subba said. As part of the formal closing of trade, at least 60 Sikkimese traders on Thursday crossed over to the Chinese mart at Renqinggang, 17 km from this border checkpost, to attend a function organised by Tibetan traders.

GANGTOK: With the formal opening of border trade between India and China through Nathu-la in East Sikkim less than a month away, the Himalayan pass and its vicinity have burst into a flurry of activities. The serenity and solitude of Nathu-la at 14,400 ft have been replaced by the sounds of road-building equipment like bulldozers and rollers pressed into service by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to upgrade the road from Gangtok to the border outpost to ensure smooth trading between the two neighbours, beginning after a gap of over 40 years.

The Nathu La reopens tomorrow for limited border trading, 44 years after the war with China forced India to close down the strategic pass. The pass, situated 4545 metre above sea level, will take traders from Sikkim to the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in less than a day. Till now it used to take three days to reach the TAR. Obviously, the business communities, with both immediate and long-term interests in the region, are celebrating. (An estimated $ 20 bn worth of Sino-Indian bilateral trade is expected to be achieved by the end of this year and border trade is estimated to touch $100 million.

GUWAHATI: India will carry out mock trading on Tuesday at Nathu La along the historic Silk Route two days before the Himalayan outpost reopens for trade with China after 44 years, officials said. "The idea of this mock exercise is to ensure that everything goes smoothly according to plans," Karma Gyatso, Sikkim's Industries and Commerce secretary, told media by telephone. India and China last month fixed July 6 as the date to reopen the Nathu La Pass, at an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,545 metre)

GANGTOK: Claiming that the historic border trade at Nathu la has become a 'non-profitable' business for the Indian traders, a traders' body has urged the Centre to expand the existing list of of items so that the annual trade could become a viable and profitable business. The Centre should urgently review the list of items to be exported by the Indian traders through Renqinggang mart in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) by identifying those goods which are in demand by the consumers in TAR so that our traders could reap benefit from the opening of the annual trade on the Sino-Indian frontier at Nathu la, India-China Traders Association of Sikkim (ICTAS)

GANGTOK: Claiming that the historic border trade at Nathu la has become a 'non-profitable' business for the Indian traders, a traders' body - the Indo-China Traders Association of Sikkim (ICTAS) has urged the Centre to expand the existing list of of items so that the annual trade could become a viable and profitable business. The Centre should urgently review the list of items to be exported by the Indian traders through Renqinggang mart in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)

GANGTOK: The much awaited Sino-Indian border trade through Nathula in Sikkim, scheduled to begin on July 6, will initially be a localised and low-key affair. Talking to reporters here after his return from Lhasa via Nathula, Additional Secretary Union Ministry of Commerce Christie Fernandez said in the initial phase, only traders from the border areas of the two countries would participate in the bilateral trade through Nathula. "As per the basic concept of border trade, only commodities produced by the residents of the neighbouring areas of the border will be allowed to be traded free of duty between the two countries," said Fernandez, who had led a six-member delegation of Indian officials to the Tibetan capital recently to assess the Chinese preparedness for trade via Nathula.

GANGTOK: The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has exempted traders in the state from the formality of producing the mandatory Import Export Code (IEC) number while trading with China through Nathula. A notification granting exemption to Sikkimese traders from this formality was issued by the DGFT yesterday, Sikkim Chamber of Commerce President S K Sarda said quoting Additional Secretary, Union Ministry of Commerce, Christy Fernandez here today. The exemption would remain effective till further orders, Sarda said.